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Friday, June 15, 2012

This is an old board of Pagade (Chaupar, Pachisi) in the collection of Ramsons Kala Pratishtana. It is a lithograph on paper, probably printed at the Jagadamba Vilasa (lithograph press) of Mysore Palace which was established by Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (1794 - 1868) (he was popularly known as Mummadi) within the fort premises. Several plain (non-coloured) prints were available earlier. This copy, though, has been painted and illuminated with gold foil, as recent as ten years back.

Usually, a board of Pagade or Pachisi has four arms in the form of a + symbol; each arm has eight rows with each row having three squares placed side by side. Generally, out of 24 squares on each arm, either 3 or 8 squares sported a cross (depending of the kind of game being played). But in this board of Pagade many squares have figures like a bird, elephant, deer, owl, cow, humans, etc., and few other squares sport legends (instructions) in Kannada script. All figures, iconography and design elements conform to Mysore school of painting. The big square in the centre of the board has a figure of prancing horse within a double whorled lotus. Each petal of the lotus is numbered starting from 1 to 50 and the interesting part is that these numbers are placed according to the Chess Knight's move. This gives a clue that this board has been designed by Mummadi who was obsessed with solving (and finally solved) the Knight's Magic Tour.

If you are wondering what are the figures and instructions, in each square, for...? read on.

Mummadi combined two games into one. He took the concept of Paramapada or Snakes and Ladder and superimposed it on the game of Pagade. He kept the board layout from Pagade and also its safe houses intact. In remaining squares, he inscribed each with causes and effects. Example: When a player's counter lands on a square which says 'If you kill a frog, you're born as a housefly', then the player should remove that counter and place it on the square which has a figure of flies.

It seems like Mummadi started by modifying the board of Pagade and went on to design newer game boards based on the principles of cause-and-effects. His Shiva Sayujya Mukti Ata and Devi Sayujya Mukti Ata are drawn on the principles expounded in this game.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

This version of Snakes and Ladders is a contemporary commercial multicolour print on paper of size 35 cm x 48 cm. This is called 'Kailasa Pata' and hence probably targets the players of Veerashaiva community. This sells for about Rs. 5/- in the stationery stores that are found near the entrance of Devaraja Market (Dodda Market), Mysore. This is published and printed by P.C. Shabadimath Book Depot, Gadag 582101.

Contributors

Welcome

Dear reader, welcome, we are glad to have you here. As the text in the banner says, this blog is a window into the world of traditional board games of India. We are a team of three - R.G. Singh, Raghu Dharmendra and Dr. C.R. Dileep Kumar Gowda - who go around and visit towns, villages, temples, etc., and gather information on board games in our own way and document them.

This blog contains some titbits, stories, game rules, etc., which we found, encountered and experienced during our field trips. Please feel free to comment. We would be glad to answer any of your queries or doubts. If there are any mistakes please bring it to our knowledge. Thank you. Enjoy reading.

Note:Few of the board games featured here are available at 'Ramsons' the largest handicraft shop of Mysuru. The shop is right in front of Zoo (Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens) a famous tourist destination in Mysuru.

Contact: +91-821-2443669 or +91-9880111625

Email: ramsonsmysore@yahoo.com

Appeal

An appeal from Ramsons Kala Pratishtana to all Indian board game lovers.

We would be glad to receive for our Indian Board Game Archive any information about any games from anyone. Local names of the games, customs, traditions, victory rituals, victory songs, local rules, variation of rules, unusual experiences, photographs, anything.

Also, we are trying to put together as full a collection as possible of specimens of these games, to be preserved, for good, for the future together with rules and other information, since many old games are threatened with possible extinction due to computer games, video games and the generally changing world.

Finally, if you have old games, boards, dice, pieces that you don't want any more or that are never used any more, you can donate such material to our art foundation where they will be conserved and preserved for posterity.